Did Lithuania enter the USSR?
I was again turned to the Lithuanian topic by the information that two prosecutors, Rolandas Stankevicius and Saulius Versjackas, representing the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office in the case of Russian citizen Konstantin Mikhailov, allegedly involved in the shooting of the Lithuanian customs officers and police at the border customs checkpoint in July, in the XIINXX, July 2006. ", Made in the Court of Appeal with final speeches in which they demanded to reclassify the charge of Mikhailov, already sentenced to 1991 in Vilnius district court to life imprisonment, commission of crimes against humanity.Statements voiced by Lithuanian prosecutors in the Court of Appeal are of particular interest to Russia. The fact is that in Lithuania a correspondence criminal trial is being prepared over 69 by former Soviet and now Russian citizens accused of committing crimes against humanity at the Vilnius TV tower in January 1991.
This process is positioned in Lithuania as “Nuremberg-2”. Its main goal will be not only the Russians, but also Russia, which Lithuania, following the results of the process, will try to declare as the legal successor of the “criminal” USSR. 700 volumes of the criminal case in which they should condemn the Russians in absentia, are ready. Prosecutors left to form a 10-heavy indictment, which must substantiate the charge of crimes against humanity.
The severity of the situation adds to the fact that three weeks ago, on June 4, the panel of judges of the Vilnius District Court acquitted Vilnius OMON leaders Boleslav Makutinovich and Vladimir Razvodov, whom the prosecutor's office also tried to accuse of committing crimes against humanity. The panel of judges, citing serious flaws in the wording of the indictment prepared by the prosecutors, decided in favor of the defendants.
Naturally, the final speech of representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office at the Court of Appeal aroused great interest in Lithuania. What surprised prosecutors to the Lithuanian public?
They, at the Court’s sittings without a hint of embarrassment, manipulated pseudo-legal concepts and argued that: “From the point of view of international law in 1940 – 1990. The Republic of Lithuania was an occupied state. According to the common law principle “ex injuria jus non oritur”, which means “the right cannot arise from an offense” - the USSR could not acquire sovereign rights to the seized territory of Lithuania, therefore Lithuania, from the point of view of international law, was never part of the USSR ”.
According to prosecutors, “Lithuania, as a subject of international law, has not disappeared, the occupation of its territory was not recognized by the international community, therefore the Lithuanian SSR was considered a puppet product of the USSR, unable to have more rights than its founder, the aggressor state”.
The force action to restore the actions of the USSR Constitution in the territory of the Lithuanian SSR, taken in January 1991 by order of the President of the USSR M. Gorbachev, was presented by the prosecutors as follows: “In 1990 – 1991. The forces of the former Soviet Union that were in Lithuania carried out a military operation against the Republic of Lithuania. In other words, such a stay of the USSR Armed Forces in Lithuania was a continuation of an act of aggression in accordance with paragraph “e” of Article 3 of the United Nations Assembly Resolution 1974, characterizing the concept of aggression. ”
Describing the relationship between Lithuania and the USSR in the Soviet period, prosecutors agreed to the point of absurdity.
They claim that “in the period 1940 – 1990. The Republic of Lithuania and the USSR were different states and subjects of international law. ” This period was described by prosecutors as “the Soviet aggression against the Republic of Lithuania that continued in time”.
Wishful thinking
What can be said about what the Lithuanian prosecutors said? The arguments given by them, with the exception of a few aspects, are a repetition of the official version, which has been advocated by the Lithuanian authorities for a quarter century. In legal terms, they are void, as they are not confirmed historical the realities of the events of 1940–1991
To begin with, in June 1940, the transfer of power from the then Lithuanian President Antanas Smetona to the People's Government, journalist Justaus Paleckis, who fled to Germany, took place in full compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania 1938. Additional contingent of Soviet troops 14 June 1940 entered Lithuania without single shot, friendly welcomed by Lithuanian military units, as confirmed by numerous movies and photo documents.
This destroys the argument about the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 as the occupation occurs only as a result of hostilities. Lithuania did not fight with the USSR in 1940. Prosecutors should have more carefully read the special international agreements adopted at the 4 Hague Conference in 1907, as well as the Geneva Conventions 1949 and the Protocols to them 1977. They are very clearly defined regime and legal norms of "occupation".
Prosecutors also would not hurt, using those or other terms, to clarify their interpretation in official documents. For example, the Treaty on the Basics of Interstate Relations between the RSFSR and the Republic of Lithuania of 29 in July 1991, which is often favored by Lithuanian politicians, is also not about occupation, but about the annexation of Lithuania.
The fact that the term “occupation” cannot be applied to Lithuania's accession to the USSR in 1940 was proved in a number of solid studies. For example, in the fundamental historical research of the director of the Institute of History of the University of Tallinn Magnus Ilmjärv “Silent submission. Formation of foreign policy of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia since the middle of the 1920x. before the annexation of 1940. ” The scientific significance of this study is indicated by the fact that it was published with the assistance of the University of Helsinki and Stockholm (2004).
Apparently, it was not by chance that in April 2010, the influential English weekly The Economist assessed the fact of Lithuania’s joining the USSR not as an “occupation”, but as an “incorporation”. Although, according to a number of researchers, the terms “occupation”, “annexation” or “incorporation” do not reflect the essence of the political events that occurred in Lithuania in the summer of 1940.
There is no doubt that by 1940, the power of the fascist president Smetona suffered a fiasco and a significant part of the Lithuanian population pinned their hopes for a better life with the USSR. It is a fact. Another thing is that in 1940 – 1941. The Soviet government did not justify the hopes of many Lithuanians. But this has nothing to do with the occupation.
It is also a fact that the People’s Seimas of Lithuania, 21 on July 1940, proclaimed the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic and appealed to the Soviet leadership with a request to accept the republic as a member of the USSR, was elected by popular vote. During the elections, no anti-Soviet speeches were recorded.
If it was a body imposed, according to modern Lithuanian historians, by the Soviet “occupation” authorities, then why in June 1940 did not have such a mass demonstration against Soviet power, as happened in June 1941?
Allegations that the elections to the National Seimas of Lithuania took place on the "bayonets of Soviet soldiers" and therefore cannot be considered legitimate, are untenable. If we proceed from these statements, the legitimacy of the Supreme Council of Lithuania, which declared 11 in March 1990 in March, should be questioned, restoring an independent Lithuanian state. After all, the election of this Supreme Council in February – March of 1990 took place while the Soviet military contingent was more numerous and powerful than in 1940 in the territory of the Lithuanian SSR.
Additionally, let me remind you that in 1940, 1.386.569 people or 95,1% of all Lithuanian voters took part in the elections of the People's Diet. The absolute majority of 1.375.349 voters or 99,19% voted for candidates supporting Lithuania’s entry into the USSR. In this case, I note that for 116 deputies elected to the Supreme Council of Lit. The SSR and those who decided to leave the USSR voted on all 948.585 voters from 2.581.359, i.e. 36,7%. This data is easily verified.
I would add that the entire Soviet period in Lithuania was operated by national authorities, who were elected by popular vote. Almost half a million Lithuanian youths served in the Soviet army. The Communist Party of Lithuania numbered over 200 thousands of members, Komsomol - about 500 thousands. If we take into account that every communist or Komsomol member lived in a family, it turns out that over two million people from 3,7 million of the total population were politically oriented towards Soviet power in the republic. This is an irrefutable fact.
The Soviet period was characterized not only by the creation of a powerful material and technical base in the republic, but by the flowering of science, culture and education. Who, where, when in the occupied country created such favorable conditions for the development of the population?
Prosecutors claim that the Lithuanian state already from 11 in March 1990 possessed "all the power of state sovereignty" and the world community perceived Lithuania as a full-fledged subject of international law cannot stand up to criticism.
But it’s known that 19 in November 1990. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the proclaimed Republic of Lithuania A. Saudargas was not allowed to participate in the Conference on Security and Cooperation of the Heads of 34 European States, as a representative of a country that does not have international status.
And what kind of full sovereignty of Lithuania in 1990 – 1991. could there be a speech if the Lithuanian authorities in this period did not control either the territory of the republic or its borders? Citizens of Lithuania up to 1992 were holding passports of citizens of the USSR. Until 5 in August, 1991 was the only means of money circulation in Lithuania was the Soviet ruble. Regular armed forces of the Republic of Lithuania appeared only in the autumn of 1991. UN Member of the Republic of Lithuania became 17 of September of 1991. These are the facts.
An irrefutable evidence that Lithuania, after the declaration of independence on March 1990, was part of the USSR, is the announcement by the Supreme Council of Lithuania 29 on June 1990, at the request of the allied authorities, 100 a moratorium on the act of independence.
The foregoing suggests that the statements of prosecutors R. Stankevicius and S. Versickas at a meeting of the Court of Appeal about occupied Lithuania, subjected to Soviet military aggression, justifying the requirement to reclassify the charge of K. Mikhailov for committing crimes against humanity, are trying to pass off the desirable for the real.
There is no doubt that the same dubious arguments, allegedly confirming the right of the Lithuanian courts to apply the article on crimes against humanity, prosecutors set out in absentee proceedings, trying to accuse Russian citizens of 69 of committing such crimes.
Therefore, it is not clear why Russia is slow with the official assessment of the pseudo-legal fabrications of the Lithuanian prosecutors. Only this will ensure a less politicized and predictable course of absentee criminal proceedings planned in Lithuania.
According to some information received from Lithuania, after the final speeches of prosecutors R. Stankevicius and S. Versiatskas in the case of K. Mikhailov at a meeting of the Court of Appeal, the assistant judge immediately began writing the sentence. This is clear evidence that the Court is not interested in the opinion of other participants in the process, primarily lawyers. After all, it is planned to hear their final speeches scheduled for September 2015. It turns out that in Lithuania you can write a sentence “ahead of schedule”!
All this suggests that Mikhailov will be re-convicted by the Court of Appeal, already as having committed a crime against humanity. There is no doubt that future absentee criminal proceedings against 69 Russians will become another profanation, imitating the administration of “justice” in Lithuania.
Speculation on political skeletons
I would like to make special mention of the statement by the prosecutors that the first Lithuanian Republic (1920 – 1940) continued throughout the Soviet period to exist as a subject of international law. This is another pseudo-legal fabrication of Lithuanian jurists.
It is known that the so-called government, or rather, the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service in Exile (in Rome), headed by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Stasis Lozoraitis, was not a member of any international conference or negotiations that dealt with issues related to Lithuania. This raises the question, in what legal field did the pre-war Lithuanian Republic continue to exist? The answer to this question is not and can not be.
The attempts of the Lithuanian authorities to create historical constructions linking the modern LR with the pre-war failed. So, in September 2000, the Sejm of the Republic of Lithuania failed to recognize the Provisional Government of Lithuania Juozas Ambrazevičius as the legal successor of the state structures of the pre-war Lithuanian Republic.
This government, which compromised itself by organizing massacres of the Jewish population, operated in Lithuania from June 23 to August 5 1941. It was and remains a political skeleton in the historical cabinet of Lithuania. Proving that the government of Y. Ambrazyavichus during the Second World War represented the “continuing” Lithuanian Republic was simply criminal.
The Act No. VIII1021 adopted by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania 12 in January 1999 did not change the post-war historical situation. According to this law, the partisan “Council of Sayudis of the Struggle for Freedom of Lithuania”, created by 16 in February 1949 in underground conditions, was recognized as “the only legitimate authority in the territory occupied Lithuania. "
Such a confession is simply absurd. Indeed, in 1949, according to the Center for the Study of Genocide and Resistance of Lithuanian Residents, Lithuanian "partisans" numbered thousands of 2 – 3 people, their social base was extremely small, the territorial sphere of influence was limited.
What state activity of the partisan “government” based in the forest can we talk about?
Material evidence of the state activity of this “government”, besides a few pompous declarations, does not exist. Except that such evidence should be considered the ruthless destruction of 25 108 civilians in Lithuania, including 993 children up to 10 years and 52 years old, by “partisans”. By the way, the absolute majority of these victims were Lithuanians.
I would also like to note that the necessary consequence of the implementation of the aforementioned Law should be the recognition as illegal of all the material attributes of the Soviet government that are still in circulation in the Republic of Lithuania. This refers to the documents of the Soviet period: marriage certificates, birth certificates, certificates, diplomas, etc.
But this is almost impossible to do. This suggests that Law No. VIII1021 turned out to be nothing more than a propaganda statement, and the partisan “Council of Sajūdis of the Struggle for Freedom of Lithuania” became another political skeleton in the historical cabinet of the Lithuanian authorities.
Mina under Lithuania
I would like to pay special attention to the statement of the Lithuanian prosecutors that “in the period 1940 – 1990. The Republic of Lithuania and the USSR were different states and subjects of international law. ” There is no doubt that this statement is the fruit of collective reflections of Lithuanian legal scholars, gathered in the Prosecutor General’s Office of Lithuania to help prosecutors after a significant acquittal in the case of B. Makutynovich and V. Razvodov.
However, with this statement, Lithuanian lawyers laid a time bomb for the territorial integrity of Lithuania, which sooner or later will explode. What is meant?
It is known that Lithuania left the USSR with a territory one third larger than it possessed in 1939 (65,2 vs. 50,0 thousand sq. Km.) And the increase in territories was due to the goodwill of the leadership of the USSR. I have already recalled the Memelsky-Klaipėda region, according to I. Stalin’s order, in the article “Lithuania claims to Kaliningrad”.
It is absolutely clear that the main part of the territories was annexed to the Lithuanian SSR, as part of the Union of the USSR.
If the USSR and Lithuania in the period 1940 – 1990. were different states, what right does the modern Lithuanian Republic have to claim the territories provided by the USSR SSR of the Lithuanian SSR?
It is known that this is the Klaipeda region with the city of Klaipeda, the Vilnius region with the city of Vilnius and the territory of the Byelorussian SSR, transferred to the Lithuanian SSR when it joined the USSR.
Today we will talk about the Vilna region and the city of Vilnius-Vilnius. They were transferred to the Republic of Lithuania in October 1939, that is, at a time when Lithuania was not part of the Union of the USSR. However, this program had a number of legal nuances, which should be reminded of the forgetful Lithuanian authorities.
The apple of contention: Vilnius and Vilnius region
The city of Vilna and the Vilna region have long been the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the XVII – XIX centuries, cultural and ethnic Polish expansion turned the city and the region into a territory with a predominantly Polish population.
After the First World War, Vilna and the Vilnius region became the scene of Polish-Lithuanian conflicts, in which, by chance, the Red Army intervened several times (the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army). So, in January, the 1919 of the Red Army dislodged Polish self-defense troops from Vilna, which took control of the city after the German occupation forces left. But in April 1919, the Poles again took possession of the city.
In July, the Red Army 1920 beat off Vilna and handed it over to the young Republic of Lithuania. In October, 1920, Poland, having signed the Suwalki Treaty, recognized Lithuanian sovereignty over Vilna and the Vilna region. However, two days after the signing of this treaty, the so-called coup of the division of the Polish general L. Zheligovsky happened, as a result of which Vilnius and Krai became part of Poland, where they stayed until September 1939.
During this period, Lithuania had no defenders in the West. 15 March 1923 The conference of the ambassadors of England, France, Italy and Japan recognized Poland’s right to Vilna and the Vilna region. Only the Soviet Union declared Lithuania’s rights to Vilna. Let me remind you that in the period 1920 – 1938. Lithuania did not maintain diplomatic relations with Poland, since it considered itself to be in a state of war with it.
In March, 1938 was killed a Polish soldier on the Polish-Lithuanian border. Poland, taking advantage of the situation, March 17 presented Lithuania with an ultimatum demanding the establishment of diplomatic relations during 48 hours and the abolition of the paragraph of the Lithuanian constitution, which proclaimed Vilna as the capital of Lithuania. I would note that the restoration of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Poland would automatically lead to the recognition of the de facto existing border of the two countries, that is, the recognition of Vilna as a Polish city.
19 March The Republic of Lithuania accepted the conditions of the Polish ultimatum, recognizing Poland’s right to Vilna and the Vilna region. The situation was saved by the Soviet leadership. Moscow told Warsaw that the USSR is interested in preserving Lithuania’s independence. As a result, Poland limited its ultimatum to one point - the establishment of diplomatic relations.
1 September 1939 The Nazi Wehrmacht invaded Poland. Two weeks later, the situation became very clear. Polish troops were defeated. September 16 1939 The Polish government left the country. The Germans were steadily approaching the borders of the USSR. In this regard, the Soviet leadership decided to take control of the territory of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, rejected by the Poles from the RSFSR in the 1920 war.
17 September 1939 of the Red Army began movement to the West. 18 September they entered Vilna.
October 10 1939, the USSR, trying to stop the drift of Lithuania under the German protectorate, invited the Lithuanian authorities to sign the "Agreement on the transfer of the city of Vilna and the Vilna region to the Republic of Lithuania and mutual assistance between the Soviet Union and Lithuania." Lithuania agreed. So Vilna and Vilensky region became Lithuanian.
In addition, I remind you that according to the additional protocol between the USSR and the Republic of Latvia from 27 in October 1939, the north-western territories of the Byelorussian SSR were transferred to Lithuania. The total size of the territory transferred to Lithuania in October 1939 was 6.655,5 square meters. km These actions of the Soviet leadership were met with great satisfaction by the President of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona, not to mention the Lithuanian public and the army.
Vyacheslav Molotov, Chairman of the USSR Council of People's Commissars and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, speaking at the 5 session of the USSR Supreme Soviet, noted: “The Lithuanian state with its population in 2,5 million people. significantly expands its territory, increases by 550 thousand people. Vilna, whose population is almost 2 times the population of the present capital of the Republic of Lithuania, receives its population. ”
For information, I will inform you that in Vilno city in 1939, Lithuanians made up only 1,2% of the population, Poles - 53,6%, Jews - 41,0%. In the Vilna rural district, the Polish population was 87,3%, Lithuanian - 3,6%.
I would especially note that under the 10 agreement of October 1939, the Soviet Union received "the right to keep a strictly limited number of Soviet ground and air forces at the points of the Republic of Lithuania established by mutual agreement". This was the main condition for the transfer of Lithuania to Vilna and the region, since the Soviet military contingent had to become, in the event of the outbreak of hostilities, an advanced fighting barrier against the Wehrmacht forces deployed in Klaipeda region and East Prussia.
It is known that the October 10 1939 agreement has not yet been disavowed. In legal terms, it turns out that as long as Vilnius and the Vilnius Territory are part of Lithuania, and the above-mentioned treaty remains in force, the right to keep a limited military contingent in Lithuania remains with Russia, the successor of the USSR.
I also remind you that the agreement on the transfer to Lithuania of Vilnius and the Vilna region was a direct consequence of the implementation of the provisions of the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact concluded by 23 in August 1939, in paragraph 1 of which it is said: “... At the same time, Lithuania’s interests in Vilna region recognized by both parties. "
In Lithuania, the Molotov – Ribbentrop Pact is cursed in every way, claiming that its signing was the “trigger” for the start of World War II, and the pact served as the basis for the start of Soviet military expansion into Lithuania. Let me remind you that this pact is the Lithuanian separatists in 1988 – 1990. made the main tool to justify an ultimatum exit from the USSR.
As for the fateful role of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in unleashing World War II, only amateurs who are not familiar with the historical documents of the prewar period can argue. As is known, Hitler, after unsuccessful attempts to solve the problem of the Danzig corridor with the Polish authorities through diplomatic negotiations, already in April 1939 denounced the German-Polish non-aggression treaty concluded in 1934.
After that, the Fuhrer ordered to speed up the preparation of the plan of Operation Weiss (it. "Fall Weiß"), which was a plan of war with Poland. 11 April 1939 he approved this plan, and in mid-May 1939 agreed with the Wehrmacht’s combat deployment program on the border with Poland.
As we see, even six months before the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Hitler made the final decision on the attack on Poland. The foregoing leads to the conclusion that the statement about the fateful significance of the pact in unleashing World War II is tantamount to an attempt to prove that the biblical murder by Cain Abel predetermined all subsequent wars of humanity.
As for the Soviet military expansion in Lithuania, it was due to the real threat of the transition of this republic under the protectorate of Germany. It is well known and documented that on September 20 in Berlin, with the participation of the Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania Colonel Kazys Skirpa, who was following the instructions of President A. Smetona, was prepared, a draft Germanolytic treaty was prepared, according to which Lithuania became a protectorate of Germany with all the ensuing consequences, including accommodation on its territory of the Wehrmacht. For the USSR, this meant that the Nazis, starting military operations against the USSR, would get a head start in more than 1939 km.
As for the perennial lamentations of Lithuanian politicians that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is criminal and all its legal consequences should be eliminated, should inform them of the following. If you follow the letter of the law, the elimination of the consequences of the pact will inevitably lead to the return of Vilnius and the Vilnius region of Poland.
These are irrefutable historical facts. Therefore, the authorities and lawyers of the present-day Lithuanian Republic, who mercilessly curse the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the generosity of the USSR, should be more cautious in their statements. After all, there may come a time when these statements boomerang back to them. Apparently, the truth is spoken by people who have somewhat altered the famous Russian proverb: “The bad head does not give rest to the language”.
It is not by chance that the well-known Lithuanian historian Ludas Truska 7 in March 2011 in an interview with the information portal Delfi.lt stated: “who knows, maybe it will resume again, and Vilnius, Klaipeda will become a controversial issue? We cannot say by 100% that the former territorial problems will not be repeated in the future. ”
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